Samuel LeComte is zero-for-three in qualifying for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts, but hopes he can finally get on the board this weekend when he pilots the #8 Chevrolet Silverado RST for NEMCO Motorsports at Circuit of the Americas.
LeComte had intended to make his NASCAR début at the 2021 COTA race for CMI Motorsports but did not qualify, followed by another failed attempt later in the year at Watkins Glen. He tried again the following year for G2G Racing only to miss the show a third time.
The 62-year-old Texas native mainly competes in the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, where he befriended NEMCO’s owner Joe Nemechek. The two finished 1–2 at the SVRA Chattanooga Motorcar Festival in October 2022, with LeComte placing second in a Chevrolet designed to resemble the #24 rainbow livery of Nemechek’s former NASCAR Cup Series team-mate Jeff Gordon.
LeComte also has experience in the Trans-Am Series’ TA2 class.
“It’s official! Sam will be competing in the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck series at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX this coming weekend,” posted his wife Selina LeComte on social media. “Qualifying will be on Friday, March 24th and the race will be at 12:30 on Saturday, March 25th. Sam is so grateful for this opportunity and so thankful to have the support of a great crew at Concierge MotorSports and Joe Nemechek with Nemechek MotorSports & Engineering as his crew chief as well as his wife, Andrea and his crew. Thanks also to all the Sponsors that helped make this possible – Cherokee Lumber, Duff’s Jewelry, Elite MororSports and Multi Building. Wishing him all the best!”
One of the original Truck Series operations, NEMCO last entered a race in 2021 when Camden Murphy finished thirteenth on the Daytona Road Course, after which the team sold their owner points to Spencer Davis Motorsports for the year. NEMCO has won seven times, all but one of which came with Nemechek’s son John Hunter Nemechek in the late 2010s. The exception, as well as one of John Hunter’s triumphs, are both road course wins as Ron Fellows claimed Watkins Glen in 1999 while John Hunter won at Mosport in 2016. Joe, a two-time Xfinity Series champion and holder of the most starts across all three NASCAR national tiers, has made seventy Truck starts with his last coming in 2020 at Talladega; he failed to qualify on the Daytona oval the following year.
Due to a lack of owner points, LeComte will have to make the race on qualifying performance.